Sliver
by Athena's Owl
Summary: A sliver can have so many different meanings.


Sliver

By

Morgan-le-fay06

**Notes: Personally this is one of the best stories I have ever written. Popped into my head last night around 11 pm. Quite different from other stories I have written except maybe for Under the Tree and as far as I can tell this one is much better. Written in Rodney's POV and it is my first Rodney story. It is just easier when you are doing first person to do him. Don't know why.**

**Warnings: Character Death**

**Rating: T for violence and mild language**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own anything blah blah blah so on and so forth**

**Summary: A sliver can have so many different meanings.**

………………………………………………………………………………………………

A sliver can be many things, I think as we walk down the previously un-traveled path. The crisp leaves fallen from the trees not to long ago crumbling under our boots, leaving behind a crackle of sound that hangs in the air. Potentially dangerous, but unavoidable. There is dense forest around us and it casts dancing shadows where light dares to pierce the canopy of branches. It reminds me of the horrific fairy tales told to me as a child. I can almost sense the Big Bad Wolf or some other fearsome creature just waiting to pounce on us innocent passerby.

A sliver, such as the one in my finger right now, can cause unnecessary pain. Sending sharp pangs through you, as if to remind you it is still there. Such a tiny thing and so much pain. But that tends to happen, doesn't it? Usually big things are all for scare and show while the little things work in secret, unnoticeable until it is too late. Of course everyone thinks I am exaggerating, but maybe they have never had a sliver or a paper cut. Or maybe they just forgot that time when they were young and they fell of the tree they were climbing and grazed their knee. It is partially my fault for exaggerating things that don't need to be exaggerated, that they ignore me or don't think I am serious. Not, that I'd ever admit to it.

I look at my finger again and note that the flesh around the splinter of wood is slightly redder. John sighs pointedly and I drop my hand. Why did we have to come to this fairy-tale horror wood anyways? If we hadn't come I wouldn't have tripped on that gnarled tree root that seemed to come out of no where and gotten the damn sliver in my finger.

As we wind round yet another corner in the twisting path the trees seem to grow less frequent. Only slightly mind you. The path seems to be growing narrower but I can see the trees falling away almost completely not to far ahead. There's the other sliver I had in the back of my mind. A sliver of hope or light. Tiny things do good as well. I let out a breath realizing that we will soon be out of the greenish darkness. A sliver of hope. Such a lovely saying. It is almost calming. Although it too has its negative sides. I can't help but think of 'Walk towards the light'. I push that thought further back into my mind and lock it under steel bars.

We are getting closer to the break in the trees know. Something uneasy is floating inside me but I ignore it. We are close to the end, no point in freaking out know. A rustling to the side puts us all on alert. _Oh please, don't let something go wrong now_, I plead with myself. A single crow like bird flies out screaming loudly. I silently berate myself. _You always have to assume the worst don't you._ I hate to admit it but it spooked me. The others look slightly tense as well, but I would bet that their hearts aren't beating at a hundred miles per minute. I try to calm it. We start walking again, going at a bit of a faster pace. Normally I would complain but this place freaks me out.

As we walk the leaves start fluttering up around our feet instead of punctuating the heavy silence with cracks. I feel like we should be running now. Everyone looks uneasy. Only a couple of feet till the end now though. The sliver of light at the end of the darkness. The sliver of hope at the end of the fear. But nothing is ever easy. There is a short scream from directly behind us and a thud. We whip around to find Teyla being dragged into the brush. As her arm is gradually consumed by the growth we grab her trying to pull her back. But whatever it was is stronger and prevails. She vanishes. The sliver of hope is being squeezed smaller every second. I then realize there is another negative. Should the hope be false it can truly break you. The rest of us turn and run, breaking for freedom. Wishing that somehow she is safe, that we will see her again but deep down I don't believe it.

It only takes another few steps before another falls. A vine slithers out of now where and latches onto Ronon's ankle as he falls with a thud. He twists and shoots it creating a temporary smoldering hole in the spiny flesh. It simply re-grows faster then I would have though possible, this time strengthening itself. He too is dragged away. We listen to the sound of breaking branches and blasts until it suddenly grows quiet. If John and I could only move the few steps it would take us to feel the light again we would be free. But we are frozen. In shock, in fear, in realization that two of our teammates are never coming back. Before I realize it another vine comes lashing out, stabbing a spine through his chest and killing him instantly. I scream. The eyes I had come to know so well, the man I'd come to acknowledge as a teammate, heck even a friend, grows lifeless and is pulled under as well.

My sliver of hope is almost too thin to see now. I let out a half hearted laugh as I think of what the empty gravestones will say. "John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagen, Ronon Dex, and Rodney McKay. Killed by man-eating plants." The laugh turns into a sob. I can see the trees literally closing in the end of the path. If I could only move I might be able to make it. I feel a cold, yet hard sensation around my waist. I look down to see a tendril of cannibalistic plant slowly, almost lovingly, snaking its way around me. I finally struggle only to be rewarded with a sharp sensation of pain in my stomach. I groan as my tiny sliver of hope is extinguished completely. I feel my legs buckle and then the sensation of ground sliding under my body. I can barely feel the leaves that are even now forming a make-shift shroud over my body. A sliver of hope or a sliver of wood. Today I am not sure which is more painful.


End file.
